Lindsey Graham

He had also been quietly building an electrical manufacturing empire to rival Edison's.

So when Westinghouse learned the details of Tesla's new innovation, he immediately understood its revolutionary potential.

Westinghouse had been tinkering with alternating current for several years, and he had secured several lucrative contracts to supply the power from municipal lighting, including one to power Buffalo's downtown business district.

But like many, he was frustrated by the technology's limitations.

He saw Tesla's new design as the key to unleashing the full potential of AC.

So keen to partner with Tesla, Westinghouse sent his top engineers to visit his Liberty Street lab in New York.

After they verified that Tesla's machine worked the way he claimed, Westinghouse offered Tesla a large cash payment and guaranteed future royalties in exchange for his patents.

Realizing that Westinghouse could offer the financial backing he had long craved, Tesla accepted, not only for the money, but because he recognized in Westinghouse exactly the kind of ally he would need for the battle ahead.

According to Tesla, there was no fiercer adversary than Westinghouse when locked in a fight.

So in July 1888, just two months after unveiling his electrical system at Columbia College, Tesla boarded one of Westinghouse's private rail cars and made the 10-hour journey to Pittsburgh.

There, he met with Westinghouse and his powerful team of engineers, and together they began planning how to bring Tesla's revolutionary AC system to the world, confident that it was a technology that would shake the foundations of Thomas Edison's electrical empire.

From Audible Originals, this is Episode 2 of our three-part series Edison vs. Tesla for American History Tellers.

In the next episode, Westinghouse and Tesla threaten Thomas Edison's grip on the electrical market, leading Edison to launch a ruthless campaign to destroy the reputation of alternating current.

Follow American History Tellers on the Audible app or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to all episodes of American History Tellers ad-free by joining Audible.

And to find out more about me and my other projects, including my live stage show coming to a theater near you, go to NotThatLindsayGraham.com.

That's NotThatLindsayGraham.com.

If you'd like to learn more, we recommend Tesla, Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson, and Empires of Light by Jill Jones.

American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsey Graham, for Airship.

This episode is written by Dorian Marina, senior producers Alida Rozanski and Andy Beckerman, managing producer Desi Blaylock, audio editing by Mohamed Shazib, music by Thrum, sound design by Molly Bach, executive producer for Audible, Jenny Lauer Beckman.